Don't Take Pictures

We are excited to announce The Museum Issue! Copies are on their way to subscribers.

On your next museum visit, take notice of the barriers designed to keep you at a distance from the artwork. The signage is pithy: Please do not touch. Do not lean on glass. Do not cross line. I feel the urge to rebel against these orders. I want to get close, lean past the motion sensors, touch the artwork.

Museums play an integral role in our culture, but as patrons and weekend visitors our access to them is limited. They are places of learning, curiosity, and quiet reflection. They are also institutions that preserve the art and artifacts that have shaped our culture and remind us why these objects matter. We have dedicated this issue to museums and how they inspire the creation of art, as well as house it.

The Museum Issue investigates how art begets art: of museums as structures, of their collections, and of their influence on artists and audiences. Some of the featured photographers have made museum architecture their subject matter, and others have reinterpreted the displays. One photographer grew up living inside of a museum. In thoughtful essays, museum professionals offer their insights into these artist’s works. Beyond the pictures, discover the ghosts that haunt cultural institutions and a poet inspired by a life spent visiting them. Inside these pages, I invite you to go behind the velvet ropes, walk through the ‘employees only’ door, and experience the photographs of those adventures.

— Kat Kiernan, Editor-in-Chief

Subscriptions placed before September 30 will include Issue 13.Purchase/subscribe here.